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March 12, 2013

A Dry Land

35 He turns a wilderness into pools of water, And dry land into watersprings.

The Texas "hill country" has its own beauty. It's a location that inspires passion... in that you either love it or hate it. It's a place I love to visit, I have relatives there, but I like the trees and green grass and all to hang around longer during the year. It doesn't really qualify as "arid" but water is not abundant and the "tanks" (as they call ponds there) dry up pretty quickly after their occasional rains.

God's ancient people Israel equated plentiful water with prosperity and for good reason. Dry years brought famine, disease, and a host of other problems. It's hard to rejoice when the sun parched earth offers no inviting hospitality. During such times their hearts yearned for Yahweh to restore His favor... to look kindly upon His suffering children and to relieve them of their distress. It wasn't much of a jump for them to see their spiritual lives in analogous terms. Sometimes there just doesn't seem to be enough water. Sometimes the well springs seem to run dry. Sometimes we view the parched landscape of our lives and encouragement is not readily forthcoming. We all have "dry" seasons... and we know it when we go through it.

We each have developed certain mechanisms for "coping" with such times. If things are not completely out of hand we usually just grit our teeth and "gut it out." There's no real comfort in that... there's the possibility of stubborn pride showing its ugly face as we insist upon demonstrating how tough we are... how we can stand up to anything the world throws at us... trusting most of all that one day we can pat ourselves on the back and congratulate ourselves on how we got through it on our own. That whole "strong, silent type" mentality is more than just a masculine pitfall.

But what God lays out for us in this Psalm and in others, is that what we should be doing is turning to Him in hope! Hope... of all things... is the key to dry places. God's promise is that He will take our dry places and turn them into springs of water, our wilderness into sweet pools. I can not avoid thinking of the Samaritan woman at the well. Her life must have been pretty dry. She had to come for water during the heat of the day because she had no respect even in the eyes of the other women. She came early to avoid their presence. There were many sordid things about her history and her current "relationship" was probably not perfect... to say the least. And yet, there was Jesus offering her living water... water that would refresh her soul... water that would turn her "dry land" into an oasis of hope. No wonder she went running back to tell those very people who had so little respect for her what she had found. No wonder that her heart raced within her as He revealed to her how much He knew about her but that He loved her anyway.

What a refreshing thought. In the midst of drought... water. In the heat of the day... a cool breeze. At the very point where weariness threatens to overtake us... a place to rest. This is how God calls us to remember Him during those "dry" times. We may have a way to go yet... the drought may not be completely lifted... but we will get there and the drought will be replaced with pleasant showers. And until then, a drink of water... a reminder of His love... a promise of His upholding strength... a bit of shade from the sun... this is what we need and this is what He provides.

Look and see, it's there somewhere. Take what is offered and see that it is good. He forgets not His own.